Butts. Eggs, chimneys, water-melons,—Oh! I shall choke.
Bob. Do: ’twill save the sheriff a job.
Harry. Come, come, speak out man. What burglary has been committed?
Fred. Whose cow stolen?
Bob. Whose cat drowned?
Butts. Stop, stop, stop! In the name of the law, I command you! I’ve been outraged, my office broken into; and I charge you three with the perpetration of this foul outrage.
Bob. Oh, ho! a hen-coop plundered?
Harry. Hold on, Mr. Butts: this is a serious charge. We acknowledge we have sometimes overstepped the strict boundaries of the law; but to break into a man’s office is something not even the mischief-loving pupils of Greenlake Seminary would be guilty of. Explain yourself!
Butts. My office was broken into between the hours of seven, P.M., last night and seven, A.M., this morning; my window thrown open; a stuffed figure placed in my arm-chair with a scurrilous label attached to it: now who did it?
Harry. Not I, Mr. Butts, I assure you!